Acts 11:19

Luke’s reference back to the persecution resulting from Stephen’s martyrdom (Acts 7:60) is significant. It suggests that he was now beginning to record another mission of the Christians that ran parallel logically and chronologically to the one he had just described in Acts 8:4 to Acts 11:18. [Note: Longenecker, p. 400; Kent, p. 97.]

Luke had already pointed out that as a result of Stephen’s execution the gospel had spread throughout Judea and Samaria (Acts 8:4). Now we learn that it was that event that also led to its being taken to the uttermost parts of the earth. While Philip went to Samaria, other refugees went to the country of Phoenicia north of Caesarea, the island of Cyprus (cf. Acts 4:36; Acts 21:16), and the city of Antioch. Those disciples, who were Jews, were evangelizing other Jews exclusively.